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LetMyPeopleVote

(184,657 posts)
Wed Jul 8, 2026, 03:22 PM 23 hrs ago

MaddowBlog-Judge rejects Team Trump's $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post

The demise of the president’s latest case against a media company is a demonstration of the benefits of fighting back — and of the folly of appeasement.

As Team Trump’s .8 billion defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post gets thrown out of court, two things seem obvious:
- He sure does sue a lot of news organizations
- He sure does lose a lot when news organizations push back
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-08T15:53:40.433Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-washington-post-defamation-lawsuit-news-organizations

It can be challenging to keep up with the many lawsuits Donald Trump and his team have filed against assorted news organizations, but the president’s media company sued The Washington Post over a 2023 article, accusing the newspaper of a “years-long crusade” and being part of a “conspiracy” to harm the company. As part of its defamation suit, the Trump Media and Technology Group sought $3.8 billion in damages.

That didn’t go well. The Post reported:

A federal judge on Thursday ruled in favor of The Washington Post, throwing out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed in 2023 by President Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber, who is based in Tampa, wrote in a summary docket entry — known as a minute order — that Trump Media “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that The Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.


.....The Trump campaign’s 2020 case against CNN failed. Trump’s 2021 case against The New York Times failed. Trump’s 2023 case against journalist Bob Woodward failed. The Trump campaign’s case against the Post failed. Trump’s class-action lawsuit against social media giants also failed.

Last year, Trump filed a $15 billion civil suit against The New York Times, which was thrown out four days later, not because it lacked merit, but because a federal judge found that the president’s lawyers’ court filing was simply too ridiculous.

Two months later, Trump’s media company also lost a defamation suit against The Guardian.

As recently as April, Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal was also thrown out of court, though he and his lawyers refiled the case a month later......

Meanwhile, news organizations that stood up for themselves and resisted the ridiculous attempts at intimidation have prevailed.

Let this be a lesson to the larger political world: Resistance is far more successful than appeasement. It’s true when it comes to law firms, it’s true when it comes to higher education and it’s true in his court fights against news organizations.

Media organizations are no longer settling with trump. When they take these cases to trial, these media organizations win
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MaddowBlog-Judge rejects Team Trump's $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post (Original Post) LetMyPeopleVote 23 hrs ago OP
A federal judge threw out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit-allegedly defamatory statements not made actual malice LetMyPeopleVote 22 hrs ago #1
This made me smile LetMyPeopleVote 2 hrs ago #2
Get thee to the greatest page malaise 2 hrs ago #3

LetMyPeopleVote

(184,657 posts)
1. A federal judge threw out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit-allegedly defamatory statements not made actual malice
Wed Jul 8, 2026, 04:42 PM
22 hrs ago


A federal judge threw out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Trump Media & Technology Group against The Washington Post (article May 13, 2023).

Trump Media failed to present convincing evidence that the WP published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.


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